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So I just found out that UK keyboards have an extra key to and a couple of extra symbols, as well as having some things in different locations, and it made me think about all the different keyboard layouts you used to see back before they became mostly standardised. So I thought it might be fun to talk about some of them. Here's a UK keyboard I found a picture of:  I don't even know what those extra symbols on the key just left of the 1/! are. But the quotation mark on the two reminds me of the Apple II keyboard:  I like that it's got a division sign key, because it's actually a slash key. Exactly the same as pressing the slash/question mark key. Also that the apostrophe requires you to hold shift, because that's not at all inconvenient. So what other keyboard layouts have you seen/used. What's good, bad or interesting about them?
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Nov 16, 2017 10:49
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 18:46 |
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I've been using the Colemak layout for around 6 years now. It's awesome because a lot of the keys are still similar to QWERTY, especially most of the common ctrl+key shortcuts. But the keys are rearranged in a way that allows your wrists to twist a lot less and common letters to comfortably alternate fingers and hands so it flows a lot better to type. It's really ergonomic! For example, like having the semicolon being on the homerow keys for some insane reason and the P key being in an uncomfortable spot for your right pinky finger, the semicolon takes P's place and the O key now resides where the semicolon used to be. There are two features I tend to use a lot that other layouts don't normally have. One is that one of the Alt keys has been replaced with the AltGr key, which allows you to type special characters like áéóñ, and Shift+AltGr can take things even further like ¹²³£¥ĦÐÞ. Another weird feature about it, at least when this layout was first announced, was that the Caps Lock key was converted to another Backspace key, which I felt was really useful since I don't have to drastically move my hand to hit the Backspace key on the fly, and I never have a use for the Caps Lock key. Although I think later versions removed this feature, so I'm not sure. Learning a new keyboard layout may take a hit on your typing abilities in QWERTY at first, but if you keep up both layouts, the former will eventually come back to you. During the first few weeks of picking up Colemak, my QWERTY typing speed sank to around 50 WPM. The last I checked, I can now type at about 85 WPM on QWERTY and 90-100 WPM on Colemak. Having my keys rearranged on my laptop and PC also means nobody else can easily use my computers. 
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Nov 16, 2017 18:20
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I used the Dvorak layout for a while, but I found it just didn't make a difference (or at least not one I noticed). I slowed down at first obviously, but once I got used to it I got back up to where I was with QWERTY and stayed there.
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Nov 17, 2017 01:22
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The ABC layout: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftDkBFz9BII
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Dec 6, 2017 02:06
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That's an interesting idea, but I'm not 100% convinced that the alphabetical layout would actually be that useful. Like, none of their quotes from experts are actually about the keyboard, they're just about the importance of kids learning their letters early.
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Dec 6, 2017 06:15
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This reminds me of taking some standardized test in high school and the teacher kept saying QWERTY every 3 seconds ("can't use QWERTY calculators" etc) in the most obnoxious American midwestern accent. Kweeeearty. E: I just texted my friend and she remembers it with amusement as well. This was 15 years too. Lol Thin Privilege has a new favorite as of 10:04 on Dec 6, 2017 |
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Dec 6, 2017 10:00
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Thin Privilege posted:This reminds me of taking some standardized test in high school and the teacher kept saying QWERTY every 3 seconds ("can't use QWERTY calculators" etc) in the most obnoxious American midwestern accent. Kweeeearty. QWERTY calculators? What? 
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Dec 6, 2017 10:25
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The_White_Crane posted:QWERTY calculators? What? It's pretty common with graphing calculators, I think?
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Dec 6, 2017 11:14
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 18:46 |
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Tiggum posted:It's pretty common with graphing calculators, I think? Yep I don't know if they still make them cause this was back in like 2003/4 but the TI-92  We were only allowed the TI-83, not the 89 (or 92 obviously) cause that thing did everything for you, but you better believe I got that 89 as soon as I had money, helped me the gently caress with calculus cause I could make sure my formulas etc were right before I turned them in. I did the work first because I loved (and still love) calculus but I used it to verify because I am a nerd and wanted everything to be correct.
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Dec 9, 2017 05:27
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